SOCCER/Euro 2008 news:Liverpool right back Steve Finnan emerged as a doubt yesterday for Saturday's European Championship qualifier in Bratislava, the defender informing Republic of Ireland manager Steve Staunton he would be unable to join up with the squad today.

The 31-year-old picked up a knee injury in Saturday's Premier League defeat of Derby and has stayed on with his club to receive treatment.

The fact Finnan played all 90 minutes of the 6-0 win will be viewed as encouraging and it is hoped that he will be able to travel on Thursday, but when Staunton was asked about the situation yesterday he would say only, "We're going to take it day by day."

If Finnan were to be forced out of the game it would be a significant blow to the Ireland boss, who has settled on the defender as his first-choice left back in recent competitive games.

John O'Shea could switch sides and there are other options in the form of Stephen Kelly and Kevin Foley. But with Stephen Carr already absent through injury, it would mean thrusting one of the squad's less-experienced figures into a key role for a crucial game.

The rest of the news for Staunton yesterday seemed to be generally positive, with everybody else expected to arrive into Dublin ahead of this afternoon's first training session.

Paul McShane has a slight shoulder injury, which he played through at the weekend, but Sunderland officials have confirmed that they expect him to travel.

Shane Long is expected in despite having had a pin inserted into a broken thumb.

The Slovakia striker Robert Vittek, meanwhile, has been ruled out of Saturday's game because of a knee injury.

The Nuremberg striker sustained the injury in his club's 1-1 draw against Cottbus on Saturday and is expected to undergo surgery today or tomorrow. National coach Jan Kocian has called in Filip Sebo of FC Valenciennes to replace Vittek, who played all 90 minutes of Slovakia's 1-0 defeat by Ireland at Croke Park back in March.

Of potentially more importance to Staunton, though, is the decision of Chelsea yesterday to omit midfielder Michael Ballack from their squad list for the group stages of the Champions League.

The club said they had made the decision on the basis that the German would not be fit "for the majority of the group phase games".

This would suggest the 30-year-old will be unavailable to Joachim Loew for Germany's visit to Dublin on October 13th, as the Londoners will have played only two of their six European ties by then.

"The injury is over now, it's becoming better from day to day," insisted Loew yesterday.

"It's important that he (Ballack) gets a base physically for the season. His coach at Chelsea must decide when he comes back but we hope that he will return to our team for the Euro qualifier against the Republic of Ireland."

Chelsea's decision was in part explained as being prompted by Uefa regulations that require that three members of the squad submitted by a club for use in the Champions League must have come through the youth ranks.

Only John Terry has done that at Chelsea, which means that Jose Mourinho must leave two places vacant or assign them to inexperienced players.

If Ballack were to be included then the number of senior players who would be fit for the opening games would have to be brought down under 23.

The club insists that the decision to omit Ballack was made with the agreement of the midfielder on the basis of genuine concerns over his fitness. But there was speculation last night that the real motive was to ensure he would not be cup-tied when the international transfer window reopens in January.

Kenny Cunningham, meanwhile, has launched an FAI initiative aimed at providing additional support to the schools game in Ireland.

"My own experience of this end of the game goes back to my days at St Vincent's CBS in Glasnevin," said the former Ireland skipper yesterday.

"It was predominantly a GAA school but we organised our own team as best we could with a little bit of help from the teachers, and thankfully we were very successful, winning a Leinster title in our first year.

"What the FAI is doing here is looking to offer the sort of support we didn't have, help with coaching and all of that, and it's to be welcomed."